The Language Arts Writing Section Two consists of one forty-five minute essay. The essay should be approximately 250 words in length. It will require you to write a well-developed essay in which you will be asked to describe, explain, or interpret a prescribed situation, idea, or experience. The topic given will not require you to have any previous knowledge or particular information regarding the given topic. Often the essay will require you to explain a common issue or predicament.

There are no “correct” answers to the essay topics. You will be graded on this section of the exam based upon how well you can organize your ideas and thoughts and effectively and clearly communicate them through writing. More specifically, you will be graded on:

Well-focused main points

Clear organization

Specific development of your ideas

Sentence structure, punctuation, word choice, spelling, and grammar

Each essay will be graded by two trained readers. Each reader will score your essay on a 4-point scale, and the scores will be averaged to find your final score. If your final score is less than 2 on the essay, you will have to retake both Parts I and II of the Language Arts Writing Test.

Also, make sure that you write only on the assigned topic; if you don’t, your essay will not receive a score, and you will have to retake both parts of the test.

Remember, good writers take the time to go over what they write and correct mistakes. Your writing will show your best skills if you take the time to plan what you want to say and then review it to make any needed corrections.

Also, you should be able to plan your thoughts and clearly communicate them while supporting these ideas with logic and well-thought out examples. Your sentences should be artfully combined to form a coherent, cohesive, and concise essay.